Digital audio has become an everyday part of our lives. Just

in the same way CD replaced vinyl, more of us are downloading music to listen to on the move, or are using sound in one digital form or another. Despite its advantages, digital audio isn't without its problems, and making sure you get the best possible quality to meet your needs can take a little pc trick...

What Is Bit-rate?

Digital audio is stored in a wide range of formats to be played on audio devices or used by computers, but in almost every case this sound is compressed to save on storage space. In essence, these compression methods work by removing parts of the sound that can't be heard by the human ear, and removing redundant information and in turn, making the files considerably smaller.

When the resulting file is played back, to most people it will sound the same as the original audio source. However, when it comes to the actual quality of the sound, this where the bitrate comes into play. While the sound can't be played any faster than normal, the amount of data that is actually in the file is important. The bitrate defines how much data is used for every second of audio and the higher the bitrate, the more data there is and correspondingly, the higher quality the sound will be, but in turn, the larger the file will be.

The bitrate for audio is measured in kbps (kilobits per second) and typically, music that you would purchase online for use on an iPod or mp3 player would be at 192kbps or 256kbps.

Why Should I Compress Audio Files?

Most people will look to compressing their CD library to store on their computer digitally, or to be able to take it on the move. Others may need access to an audio collection to accompany video editing work. Either way, uncompressed audio can take up a considerable amount of space, and no matter what format you use (with Windows Media and MP3 being the two most popular), you will see a typical reduction of 90% compared with uncompressed files.

What Bitrate Should I Use?

If you are compressing audio for your own use, then the ideal bitrate will vary according to your intended use. If you are just going to listen to music on the go with in-ear headphones, then higher bitrates won't provide you with any noticeable increase in sound quality. For portable audio, your priority will be maximizing the storage space you have at your disposal so a bitrate of 128kbps - 192kbps is sufficient.

For those of you with more serious needs, or where storage isn't as limited, then you can look at considering 256kbps. This is ideal for audio being played through a hi-fi system, good quality computer speakers, or for sound being used as backing tracks or main audio tracks for video editing work.

However, if you are looking at entering the higher end of digital audio but space is still a premium so you still have no alternative but to compress sound, then 320kbps is the best choice. This will provide you with the best sound quality which can be used for almost any purpose, meet all your needs on a professional level, will sound superb no matter what you play it back on and - more importantly - if you ever need to transfer audio back down to a physical medium, then this would be perfect.

What Next?

So, bearing that in mind, you need the right tools for the job. There are plenty of software packages available to transfer audio from CDs to your computer (CD audio rippers) and both MP3 and WMA (Windows Media) converters to compress any existing files you may have. Many programs available will be able to do both for you and some of the more powerful will have editing functions, will allow you to choose what bitrate you use, and can convert between formats. To find the best tools to meet your needs, a quick Google search for "audio file converter" and "CD rippers" will provide you with everything you need.

Author Bio:Will Blackburn works for a video and music production studio. He especially enjoys sharing his insights on tech issues by blogging in his spare time. You can visit this site to use KoyoteSoft for convert wma to mp3.